Originally posted by Yelta
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My oldest Vario is "only" 5+ years old but has now done well over 200Kgs. I say "well over" as one cafe owner forgot to get accurate figures for the last 6 weeks, so I didn't count it at all. Adding another 40+ Kg per week (their "normal" but they were actually a lot busier than usual) would take it over well 400Kg with no burr wear (or any other wear for that matter). FYI, I keep giving them the older one to see how long it takes to break - so far so good. Having said that, the Vario is not really good for high volume cafes as emptying the chamber every hour is pretty tedious.
I reckon the Vario problems (especially gen2 or later) stem from lack of cleanliness. Filling the (small) chamber takes a while however, like most grinders, it will nuke the reliability pretty thoroughly if not cleaned out.
That sounds like commercial vs domestic espresso machines - the main failures are from lack of maintenance irrespective of brand. Lack of quality from some makers simply reduce the time it takes to break anyway. Add user carelessness and, for example, you get a mountain of dead Silvias purely because they did not bother to keep the water tank filled. I had my Miss S for 9 years with minor routine maintenance only.
What I look for performance in a grinder is an even particle spread, accurate grind texture and minimal grind retention. Then I look for decent engineering - and i would back a Swiss made (by Ditting) Vario gen2 (or later) against ANY Italian grinder in terms of that...
Enjoy your cuppa and don't get too carried away with the gear - until it breaks and needs something.
TampIt



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